Mr Darcy watched as Miss Lucas led her friend to the pianoforte on the other side of the room, where her friend selected some sheet music to play. Miss Lucas then left her to join some acquaintance of hers, though Darcy was not interested enough to know who.
He was not sure what to expect of Miss Bennet's performance. He knew from the idle chatter that it was Miss Mary Bennet, not Miss Elizabeth who was known for her application and was sure that he would have heard by now if Miss Elizabeth had great talent. After all, he had heard that she was a great beauty but with that he could not agree. Though he could admit to himself - if no one else - that she contained and radiated an energy that made her stand out from every other woman he'd ever known. There was a light that shone through her eyes, those fine eyes of hers… He may hate to admit it - even to himself - that her eyes affected him (and indeed that they were fine) but appreciation of the female form is completely natural, he told himself and as he had noted to himself before, hers was pleasing.
Casting his attention away from those thoughts, he heard her begin to play. Her fingering was, in a technical sense, not perfect but she put her energy and herself into her performance and what she lacked in talent was rendered irrelevant by her lively manner of playing.
Darcy deigned to do a quick sweep of the room and found that he was not the only one appreciating the music. He saw many people smiling at her, some tapping their feet and others merely wrapped up in the enjoyment of a player who was enjoying themselves.
Darcy began to compare his dear sister Georgiana's playing to that of Miss Elizabeth's and knew without a doubt that his sister's playing was by far superior to hers. It was nothing against Miss Elizabeth's performance but as his sister had applied herself thoroughly to furthering her musical abilities and had a great love of music, it was only to be expected.
There was of course, one way in which Miss Elizabeth's performance outshone his sister's. Georgiana was shy. She was also quite reserved in her nature, recent events had made her even more so. 'No,' he thought, 'I shall not think of that now, she is safe from harm.'
After taking a second to compose himself, Darcy recovered his previous train of thought. He noticed that Georgiana's reserved ways were also part of her playing, she played with a love of music but kept most of herself within her self, not letting it flow out into her music, when anyone else was listening at least; he'd heard her when she thought that no one could and noticed the great difference in her playing.
If he could make Georgiana play more like Miss Elizabeth in company, then he felt that she would be able to take more pleasure in playing as she would let herself become one with the music. If the two of them were to play together, then they would have every advantage, skill and passion would come together and that would be something to hear indeed.
Of course, the likelihood of them ever playing together was very small. They moved in different circles outside of Hertfordshire, making the chances of them even meeting smaller still. He would fear her being introduced to the younger two Miss Bennets, for they are neither quiet like the middle child nor full of sense like the eldest two.
He realised that he had only assessed one area of her performance. His head was filled with the sound of her voice. Again, she could do far better if she applied herself and practiced but she was definitely a pleasure to listen to. In fact it could be said that nothing gave him more pleasure than listening to her.
He noted that on the whole, her performance was much like herself: captivating but by no means perfect.
